News · Traverse City
Traverse City airport luggage thefts: Cherry Capital Airport police arrest a Gaylord woman and say all of the stolen bags, worth over $10,000, were recovered
TRAVERSE CITY — Police at Cherry Capital Airport have arrested a Gaylord woman in a string of luggage thefts from the airport’s baggage claim, and say they recovered everything that was taken, worth more than $10,000.
The airport identified the suspect as Renee Elias, 59. She was arrested Wednesday, Oct. 28, and arraigned on a two-count felony warrant for larceny in a building, according to the airport. Airport Police Chief Joseph Fitzgerald told 9&10 News she was taken to the Grand Traverse County Jail. A charge is only an accusation, and she is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
Fitzgerald said the first complaint came in April, but officers could not pin down when that bag disappeared because the traveler had shipped it ahead. The investigation began in earnest in August, when several travelers reported checked bags taken from the baggage claim carousel before they could pick them up. Those travelers had already checked with their airlines. “Nobody had their luggage anywhere,” Fitzgerald said.
The August reports let officers narrow down the dates and times, and the airport’s surveillance video showed the suspect coming into the terminal and taking luggage out, the chief said. With help from the Traverse City Police Department, investigators then used Flock license-plate cameras to identify her vehicle arriving at and leaving the airport. “This was a huge help for us,” Fitzgerald said.
Officers got a search warrant and served it at a home in Gaylord with help from Michigan State Police. “We actually recovered all the stolen property that was taken from the airport,” Fitzgerald said. That included suitcases, some of them valuable, personal items and, he believed, some electronics. He said that, to his knowledge, Elias had no connection to the airport.
The airport police department started about a year ago, and most of its calls have been minor, such as upset passengers and fender-benders in the parking lot, Fitzgerald said. He hopes to have officers on duty around the clock by the time the airport’s Wings to the Future project opens in 2028. “I just want everybody to know the airport is safe,” he said.
“This case reflects the dedication and professionalism of our Airport Police officers, who remained committed to seeing this investigation through from start to finish,” airport CEO Kevin Klein said.
Elias is scheduled for a probable cause conference Nov. 10 at 2 p.m. and a preliminary examination Nov. 17 at 11 a.m., WPBN-TV reported.
Sources:
9&10 News, “Airport police arrest Gaylord resident in Cherry Capital Airport luggage thefts,” Oct. 29, 2026 (airport release, arrest, jail, Fitzgerald account and quotes, department history, Wings to the Future, Klein quote), https://www.9and10news.com/2026/10/29/airport-police-arrest-gaylord-resident-in-cherry-capital-airport-luggage-thefts/
WPBN-TV/UpNorthLive, “Woman faces felony charge after allegedly stealing over $10K in luggage from airport,” Oct. 29, 2026 (Oct. 28 arrest, charge, agencies, court dates), https://upnorthlive.com/news/local/woman-faces-felony-charge-after-allegedly-stealing-over-10k-in-luggage-from-airport-cherry-capital-airport-grand-traverse-county-traverse-city
Photo: User:my name, “Traverse City Airport II.JPG,” Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Traverse_City_Airport_II.JPG
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